It looks like I owe alot of people an apology. In the past I looked at topics raging against EB Games/Gamestop and for the most part just blindly rolled my eyes in general apathy toward the subject. You see, I've never had a bad experience at a Gamestop or EB Games. Until yesterday. And now, well, the rose-colored glasses are off.

I've been trying to find a copy of Stella Deus, but since it is an Atlus title most EB Games either didn't have it or were sold out. Luckily, after some investigation I contacted a store 35 miles from my house and they verified that 3 copies are in stock. There was much rejoicing and I ventured happily to that distant city.

When I arrive, I ask for a copy and the store clerk requests that I grab one of the three copies off the shelf. They are all open, with massive EB stickers polluting the cover (10% off sticker, Trade in Your Used Games sticker, price tage, etc.)

"Do you have any unopened copies", I ask."I'm sorry, sir,those are the only three that we have.""They made you guys open THREE copies for the display wall?"The clerk shrugs apologetically. "Yeah, sorry sir."Okay. At this point I'm a little upset. I like my games sealed and sticker-free. I like my cases to be pristine. I know its a little strange, but my idiosyncracies and I are lifelong friends. However, I also understand that the clerk is most likely not part of some pinpoint conspiracy to piss me off. With a sigh of resignation I grab the case and proceed to the counter.

The clerk smiles and adds the disc to the case. Now things go into a tailspin. Watch carefully.

"Just so you know, sir, unlike our competition all of our games are automatically warrantied for a full year. Anything happens to the disc, we replace it- no questions asked. As you can see on the screen, there is only a two dollar charge for this, and I've already added it to your total.. I can take it off you like, although I definitely recommend you keep it. Discs are very fragile. Almost everyone keeps this on."

"Please take the charge off.""Are you certain? This is a $50 game?""I'm certain.""Okay, no problem. This will just take a minute."Now the clerk fumbles with trying to take the charge off. In my paranoid mind I'm thinking its taking so damned long to deduct the $2 because he's expecting me to jusy say "Forget it. I'm in a hurry. Just leave it on." Unfortunately for him, there is nothing I love more than a war of attrition. My mama raised a very patient son, and if necessary I'm ready to pitch a tent and roast some marshmallows while I wait.

30 seconds later he concedes defeat, and the extended warranty I never asked for is off the register."Can I interest you in our membership program which entitles you to..."I break him off. "Thank you, but I'm already a member.""Excellent. Are there any games you would like to pre-order? Some hot titles are on the way.""No thank you."He hands me the bag, wishes me a good day, and I leave the store.

The end? Not quite.

I drove 35 miles back to my house, run to my PS2 and prepare to play the game. But I notice something troubling. My brand new disc has finger prints and a several small scratches on the back of it. I just paid full price for a game that someone else, either an employee or previous customer, mishandled.

So now I'm furious. I paid full price for a game that was opened, scratched and came in a case that is littered with TRADE IN YOUR GAMES stickers. They tried sliding an extended warranty on me and then wasted my time asking about pre-orders and memberships. As I stated earlier, I was blind, but now I can see. Those of you who tried warning me and others about these things can point and say "I told ya so." I'm going back to EB and demanding my money back. I don't want a replacement copy, or store redit. Anyone want to wager that they'll refuse and cause me a hard time?

I'm one of the converted. From now on Frys, Target and GoGamer will get my business.

as has been said by others up here, local management (despite corporate dictates) still seems to be the make or break factor - both of my local ebs are (knock on wood) staffed by good people who take good care of me (tho, yeah, my copy of sd was opened as well, & the white price sticker required adhesive remover to clean off). i'm sure they're supposed to say/do certain things at every point of purchase, & maybe they do with other customers, but they don't with me...

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"... i'm not against some 'monkey catching'... but i'd rather be collecting pants..."- snake, 'snake vs monkey' (mgs3:se)

I like my games sealed and sticker-free. I like my cases to be pristine. I know its a little strange, but my idiosyncracies and I are lifelong friends.

I'm like this too. Since I have no choice but to buy many older games used I typically invest in a case of blank DVD cases and just transfer the materials over. The only thing I'm missing is the memory card holder which I never use.

Doesn't work so hot for Xbox games though due to the ugly green cases. I'm sure I could order them online somewhere but I haven't seen any in brick and mortar stores.

as has been said by others up here, local management (despite corporate dictates) still seems to be the make or break factor - both of my local ebs are (knock on wood) staffed by good people who take good care of me

semiconscious - yup, still true for me, too. I'm not rolling my eyes, I know these problems exist, and all I can do is hope they don't appear at my local EB. I'm blessed by having Chaz as my main contact there; I like the other folks there, too, but they're not as good as Chaz at catching MY mistakes and steering me right!

I'm sorry your good situation changed, RamPanther - that really sucks to not be able to trust your video game source... what do they think, that this is "just" entertainment? :roll: More likely, that employee is angling for a promotion... or that's the best they could get for their starting pay. As they say - "you pay peanuts, you get monkeys!"

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Mytocles (MY-toe-cleez)

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!"- I don't remember who said it, and probably neither do they...

I don't know. I've got a brand new store right next to where I work (Gamestop...there's also a brand new EB) and they've been quite nice to me so far. The sales guy put up with me for a good while yesterday. I'm thinking of getting a PSP there. They had the best selection of accessories and games I've seen of the stores I've been in.

Although I'm currently a manager at a GameStop, I'm working on getting away for exactly the reasons the original poster mentioned. EB and GameStop have a problem in that as the game industry gets bigger, big box stores are becoming more competitive on things like pre-orders and having the games early. This is forcing EB and GameStop to turn to alternate ways of increasing their profits - mainly through promotion of used games, membership cards, and EB's insurance program. Those kinds of things require a more forceful sales approach than what was the norm in most of these stores in the past. Personally, I think it will turn people away from shopping in these kinds of stores but I guess that the corporate calculation is that if they can make more money on fewer customers, they will be fine.

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Roger: And you should know, I have no genitals.Syndey: That's alright. I have both.

I won't buy at EB or GS anymore unless I am trading something in. I got a total of THREE games that were 'new' but had fingerprints, scratches or smelled liked SMOKE. When i bring it back, I get, well, does it work? Who cares if it works?

My ebgames rocks. I have done so much business some of the clerks even know me, haha. I'm often known as the "pre-ordered online" guy. They know about games and stuff. They generally ask me about the game i've played if i heard its any good and what not. When I picked up guild wars I talked with another for about 10 minutes who played the beta as well.

I've never encountered those stickers or the 2 dollar charge thing. In fact, they never even ask me about and its never wrong up. They also usually have plenty of copies avialable and get teh games the same day they ship. Guess i just lucked out.

My ebgames rocks. I have done so much business some of the clerks even know me, haha. I'm often known as the "pre-ordered online" guy. They know about games and stuff. They generally ask me about the game i've played if i heard its any good and what not. When I picked up guild wars I talked with another for about 10 minutes who played the beta as well.

I've never encountered those stickers or the 2 dollar charge thing. In fact, they never even ask me about and its never wrong up. They also usually have plenty of copies avialable and get teh games the same day they ship. Guess i just lucked out.

In general I've had very good luck and most of the places (EB and Gamestop) have clerks who are pretty knowledgeable, even about more obscure titles like Disgaea and SMT: Nocturne.

However, the GS I went into the other day was clearly being clerked by someone brand new. An older gentleman came in enquiring about Unreal Tournament for his grandkids and the clerk didn't have any idea what he was talking about. I know PC games are rapidly becoming more obscure but not having heard of UT?

Then the clerk tried hard to push a pre-order of Guild Wars, mentioning how similar the gameplay was to UT :roll:

Honestly, I barely even buy things in BnM's anymore. It just isn't worth the trouble. Unless it's a major release, they rarely seem to get things in when they're supposed to. They open up boxes (man I hate that -- what the hell's the point of opening the box if they're fetching it from under the counter -- box and all -- anyway?), they scuff things up, they litter the boxes with stickers.

I just bought the DVD of Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth and they had an anti-theft on the front of the EMPTY box and some clerk had WRAPPED CLEAR PACKING TAPE ALL AROUND THE BOX.

WTF? Why bother doing that for an EMPTY box?

The BnM's seem schizophrenic and just not worth the trouble. And as most sites seem to offer free shipping if you're willing to wait a day or two, there's really no reason to go to the trouble.

Anybody know the employee discount for gamestop and what items it is/ is not good on? Apparently, even though they are no longer the same company, I can get the discount as a Barnes and Noble Employee.

if you are going to get a new game and live near frys, go there from now on. new games are always on sale release week ($10-$15 off) and they get so many copies you wont have to worry about not getting it. but if its a huge title go on release day. plus they dont empty the game cases ever.

i got stella deus at frys on friday and they had plenty of copies. saved $10 too.

I HATE ALL COUNTER CLOWNS !!! I WILL KILL YOU ALL>>>>>>ELKUWGRIO67925kg.luagerwngnalerjlgnjkahe5otpyq36;uqb4ljtqvq34tva;l

PH GPD SP<EPME HSJHD OH GOD COMSONE PLEASE KILL THE ASSHOLE WHO GOT FINGER PRINTS ON MY AKIRA SPECIAL EDITION DVD AND THEN THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANOTHER COPY TO TRADE FOR IT! NOT ONLY FINGERPRINTS BUT A SCRATCH ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE DISK

THE DAMN DVD WAS SHRINKWRAPPED AND EVERYTHING. THEY SOLD IT TO ME AT FULL PRICE !!! FULL PRICE! THEY SOLD A USED GAME AT FULL PRICE!

ARGH!!!!!;sdajhskjgasrfg

Okay, got that off my chest.

Hmm, I should really buy that Akira Special Edition DVD. If I can fin dit.

Well, I took the game back and , surprisingly, the manager immediately returned my money without any resistance or attitude. I mentioned how I don't like their policy of opening games and throwing stickers all over the cases. He agreed and then did something unusual. He handed me the district manager's phone number and said I should voice my complaints higher up the chain of command.

Apparently, many of the managers are sick of the whole stickering/opening multiple cases directive.

"You see, I've never had a bad experience at a Gamestop or EB Games. Until yesterday."Doesn't that mean you've had lots of good experiences with them? You probably just hit on one of the bad stores - there are still plenty of good ones out there.

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"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side." - The Big Bang Theory

i generally read through the threads about EB and what not. I have never had a problem with the one by me that I use. Though in the last couple months the normal employees that are there have moved on. Kinda stinks. I really liked the guys. Some of the new guys are alright. I have never had them ask me about insurance, nor been charged for it. The one by me usually has enourmous amounts of opened something, but usually still has them on the shelf behind the counter as well. If I buy something opened they always show me the game first. I just bought Midnight Club: DE last week from someone there I had never even seen ebfore, and he still showed me the opened copy disc..Oh well, you will always have bad apples. Sorry to hear about your problem.

Odd just finished working out at the gym and decide why not pick up Stella dues, so I go to eb games. The clerk was friendly and when I asked he said he had one copy left but no strat guide was like fine. So he runs and gets the copy then I notice it has a sticker on it, I'm thinking ok thats odd. Then he turns around and opens a drawer and finds the baggy with the game and manual in it. So I say no I want a new game, he responds oh this is new it's never been played. So I explain to him that our views on new and opened differ and left. Go upstairs to gamestop and get my brand new un blemished copy of Stella dues.... Though the clerk there sucked. Was on the phone the entire time, and when I asked about the strat guide he vaguely pointed me in some random direction. Still got the game new so guess I shouldn't complain.

I woudn't mind opened games as long as I had the option to return them for any reason. It was great when EB used to let you return PC games just because you didn't like them or they didn't work on your system. Now they only accept returns for defective games, so there's no excuse for the games to have been opened.

I woudn't mind opened games as long as I had the option to return them for any reason. It was great when EB used to let you return PC games just because you didn't like them or they didn't work on your system. Now they only accept returns for defective games, so there's no excuse for the games to have been opened.

Well unfortunately the people who abused that policy hurt their bottom line, which EB had to recoup their loss of sales by repackaging those games as new when in fact it had been used, therefore resulting in the lawsuit which forced them to finally change their ways.

Pulling back up an old topic because for the first time ever this weekend I had something similar happen to me.

I traded in 3 games at a Game Crazy getting enough in trade to pick up something new. I had wanted to get Forza for a little while now so I asked them if they had it. After looking around their cases he checked out one of the machines running in the store because he thought their one copy might be in their machine (apparently you can test out any game they have). It wasn't there and right about the same time another worker walks in (who I think is the manager). They started talking behind the counter a little ways away from me and I could hear them.

Sales guy: Do you know where our copy of Forza is?Manager: Yeah, it's back there (points). It's gotten some scratches on it from (some person) and wasn't working that great.Sales guy: Ok (and goes to find it).

At this point I'm thinking, is this guy going to try to sell me a "new" previously played/opened scratched up game? He finally finds it and doesn't even look at the disk, even after his manager told him it had scratches and had issues. He comes back to the sales computer and starts to punch it up. I stop him.

Me: So that's been opened and has scratches?Sales guy: Uh, yeah....we can probably buff them out (without even looking at it).Me: I'd like to take a look at that disk before we start messing with it.

He then pops out the disk and hands it over to me. To my shock it looks like the disk was dropped on concrete and them dragged about a foot before someone picked it up again. I've never in my life seen a disk scratched this bad.

Sales guy: Yeah, these are just surface scratches, we can try to get them out...Me: I don't think so. I don't like the idea of paying full price for a "new" game that's been abused.Sales guy: Ok (and then puts the game away without offering any kind of compromise).

I was in complete shock. The disk was damaged badly enough that had someone tried to trade it in that way they would have declined it, yet they were trying to sell it to me for the full "new" price.

I managed to find a game that looked good, but I still have a $15 credit at this place that I have to use. Once that's gone I'm never setting foot in the place again.

I don't understand why people trade games in anyway - don't they give you practically nothing for them? Maybe I've been misled, but my impression was that they take only a modest percentage of games - and give you very poor trade-in value.

I'm also wondering why you don't offer the games up on the Trading Forum here? It's nowhere near as complicated as eBay, with no fees, and you can sell or trade. Win/ Win!

I've always received great deals from folks here and the games are always near-perfect or perfect. Just a thought...

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Mytocles (MY-toe-cleez)

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most!"- I don't remember who said it, and probably neither do they...

I don't understand why people trade games in anyway - don't they give you practically nothing for them? Maybe I've been misled, but my impression was that they take only a modest percentage of games - and give you very poor trade-in value.

I'm also wondering why you don't offer the games up on the Trading Forum here? It's nowhere near as complicated as eBay, with no fees, and you can sell or trade. Win/ Win!

I've always received great deals from folks here and the games are always near-perfect or perfect. Just a thought...

I guess I never thought about it really??? Online forums is where I do all of my other sales for my "main" hobby, cars. Trades don't make as much sense for them as they do with games so I never really thought about it. I'll have to start doing that though. I'd hate to think how much I've given back to these places. They always buy them back for nearly nothing.

I don't understand why people trade games in anyway - don't they give you practically nothing for them? Maybe I've been misled, but my impression was that they take only a modest percentage of games - and give you very poor trade-in value.

It depends on the game and how long its been out. I was able to trade-in my copy of Jade Empire to Gamestop for $35. Considering I bought it new for $37 that deal was a no brainer for me.

Man, that's a pretty weak move by GameCrazy. You'd think that employees would want to be nice to customers, since they're fellow gamers (maybe it's just me, but I kind of feel a bond with other gamers), but I guess not.

Well i posted my concern about Gamestop in the GBA recommendation thread. They tried to sell me a user/already returned DS and expect me to not notice..I feel bad for the next person they try to resell it to.

I do most of my purchases surprisingly through Target/Best Buy. But they don't carry a lot of the titles I want. My brother in law is the manager at the EB by my apartment, but he is hard to track down sometimes when he is there.

Another complaint about the store is the lack of organization. I feel overwhelmed trying to look for something that should be so simple to find and I two have had to buy a already opened game..I believe it was FF anthology a long time ago, and when I bought Zelda Windwalker..but thankfully neither or them were damaged, or stickered up yet.

You can get great deals at some places, and if you play the game right you can make a killing. A couple months ago I turned 9 old GBA, Cube and Xbox/PS2 games into 300 in store credit. 9 games for that much credit is amazing.

There are allways loopholes and exploits, so I figured one day that if EB/Gamestop felt that it was good business to give me less for my trade but charge me more for used games, then it is totally fair for me to find loopholes in their own exchange system that benefit me.

Beyond that, I think Gamecrazy is a good chain overall. I also hear that Gamerush is good too, just not widespread enough.

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"I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind amazing things will happen." - Conan O'Brien

"Just so you know, sir, unlike our competition all of our games are automatically warrantied for a full year. Anything happens to the disc, we replace it- no questions asked. As you can see on the screen, there is only a two dollar charge for this, and I've already added it to your total.. I can take it off you like, although I definitely recommend you keep it. Discs are very fragile. Almost everyone keeps this on."

At least he told you about it. Twice now th EB near me has added game insurance without letting me know, and without me asking. I'm not giving EB any money ever again.